


The whole "being alive" thing

by Jayden_95



Category: Beetlejuice - Perfect/Brown & King
Genre: Angst and Fluff and Smut, Anxiety, Anxiety Attacks, Anxious!Reader, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Found Family, Hurt/Comfort, LGBTQ Themes, Slow Burn, Swearing, Tags May Change, all depending on how this story develops, and yeah reader is female, coulrophobia for chapter 2, i have so much planned, like this is a really slow burn, mainly musicalverse, queer!reader, reader has dead parents, this fic is going to have everything okay, warnings might change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-12
Updated: 2020-07-05
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:47:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 19,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24150799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jayden_95/pseuds/Jayden_95
Summary: When Reader moves to the neighborhood, she is invited to a barbecue party at the Deetz' family. When mysterious things start happening, she is slowly becoming more and more involved with Beetlejuice and his chosen family.
Relationships: Adam Maitland/Barbara Maitland, Beetlejuice (Beetlejuice)/Reader, Beetlejuice (Beetlejuice)/You, Charles Deetz/Delia Deetz
Comments: 52
Kudos: 157





	1. A haunted BBQ party

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so first chapter might be a bit slow, but hey, this is a slow burn after all. Enjoy!

You could hear muffled voices coming from their garden down the street. “Don’t be stupid”, you thought to yourself, “it’s going to be okay; they can’t be that bad.”

You were nervous and excited at the same time as you were walking towards the Deetz’ house. They had invited their closest neighbors to a barbecue today, and it was the perfect weather for it too. The sun was warming your skin, but it wasn’t too hot, and from time to time there was this calm breeze that cooled you down without making you freeze. You wore a pair of dark shorts and your favorite top, a pair of comfortable shoes, and you had all your important belongings in a small bag. 

You hadn’t been living here long, just about a week, so it was the first time you had the opportunity to properly greet your neighbors. When you arrived, the garden was what you experienced as full of people. As you walked through the entrance to their backyard you took a note of their fascinatingly large house. It was old, and three floors tall, Victorian maybe? You didn’t really know, and you couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it was, but when you accidentally looked in through a window, an eerie feeling struck your bones.

Your attention went towards the long table in their backyard, it was packed with various foods, plates and cutlery. Some people sat down, ate, had a chat, and some people were standing around in groups making small talk and laughing.

Suddenly, a red headed woman in a white sundress and big sunglasses stood before you. “Hello, you must be the new neighbor who just moved in up the street”, she said with a big smile. “I’m Delia”. You shook her hand, “yes, yes, that’s right”, you answered with a smile, “I’m Y/N”.

“Come with me”, Delia said happily, “You have to say hi to the rest”. Then she guided you through the mass of people, pointing at people telling you their names, “that’s Mrs. Roberts and her husband, that’s Ella and Joy, the twins from across the street, they go to college in California, I think, but they are home visiting now during summer, and oh, that’s the mailman, Mr. Williams.” Eventually you ended up by a small group of men making chitchat and laughing at some joke.

“Y/N, this is my husband, Charles”, Delia told you with pride, holding around a tall man with a beard. “Charles this is our new neighbor, Y/N”.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you”, he greeted, shaking your hand. Although you had just been there for about 5 minutes you could already feel this was an intense group, at least for your energy levels. You weren’t that comfortable with bigger groups of people, you preferred smaller groups with people you trusted. This was also one of the reasons you had challenged yourself to meet up, you wanted to get to know your neighbors and if you were lucky, meet new friends.

“So, what do you do for a living”, Charles questioned you politely while taking a sip of his drink in hand.

“I’m a student”, you nodded. “and then I have a part time job in a shop, so I can actually pay my bills”, you tried to joke, and they both chuckled a bit.

“What is your goal then”, Charles continued questioning you, “what do you want to achieve with your studies?”

“Yeah, well, my goal is that I’d like to try to help families and kids in unfortunate situations”, you explained, thinking that being there wasn’t as bad as you thought it would be. These people seemed kind.

“I’m a kid in an unfortunate situation”, you suddenly heard from behind you. As you turned around to look at the girl stood behind you, you heard Delia ask in a shocked manner, “Lydia, what do you mean you’re in an unfortunate situation?”

“You made me promise to not scare anyone with BJ today, Delia, that’s honestly very unfortunate,” the girl answered with a monotone voice that somehow felt a bit annoyed. She wasn’t that tall, reached you just above your shoulders. She had short, black hair, and she wore a black dress and had a camera hanging around her neck. You also noticed she was barefoot in the grass.

“Just, please let us have a normal gathering for once”, Charles calmly asked the girl.

“I know you would rather have some disturbing fun, but this will be over before you know it”, Delia chimed in.

“Right”, the girl answered, obviously irritated at their response. This conversation had quickly taken a weird turn, so you were looking for a way to steer it in another direction. “You like photography, huh”, you asked the girl, gesturing towards the camera around her neck.

“Yeah,” she admitted. “Not everything I photograph shows up in the pictures though.”

“What do you mean”, you asked her confused, and noticed both Charles and Delia were giving Lydia stern looks, however, you thought Delia showed more of a shocked expression.

“Never mind”, Lydia mumbled as a reaction to them and turned to walk away, still obviously grumpy.

“I’m sorry, she can be a bit moody at times”, Charles apologized to you. “She turns 16 soon, you know how they are when in that age.”

“No, it’s fine”, you reassured him. “She reminds me of myself when I was her age. Excuse me for a moment,” you pardoned yourself and then you turned to follow the girl. When you approached her you heard her mumble to herself, “..This isn’t fun BJ, I’d rather find someone to throw bugs at or something.”

“Hey, who’s BJ”, you questioned her. When she turned around you could swear you felt freezing cold in the back of your neck, like a snowman breathing on you. Lydia sat down under a tree in the shadow and it almost looked like she giggled to herself. What you didn’t know was that she did have a ghostly friend, who had walked around and kept her company the whole day. He had sworn to Delia and Charles that today was not a day to make pranks and scare people, but he couldn’t resist himself and just had to make this very small act of haunting, if he even could call it that. You touched your neck right where it was cold, the thought of cold wind hitting you at this moment felt unusual to you, but you figured it was just the breeze.

“He’s, uhh, a friend”, she said looking away from you, pretending like she hadn’t just spoken to herself. You sat down next to her to her right. “I don’t like this barbecue party thing”, she continued, taking a picture of her invisible friend standing in front of her, striking a silly pose without you being able to see him. “I’d rather have some actual fun.” She then looked at the picture she had just taken. “Sweet”, she exclaimed. “I didn’t know this was even possible!”

She showed you, and you noticed what almost looked like some sort of a solar flare, and strangely scattered dust, which in these circumstances would have been impossible since we were outside in the shadow of a tree with the sun in the wrong position.

“If I didn’t know any better that kinda looks like the prints ghosts leave on pictures”, you said. “A normal lens flare doesn’t look like that, you know, it looks more like a bright spot, and the suns angle is all wrong, I mean unless it’s a reflection from the window of your house.”

Lydia stared at you. Then looked back at the direction in which she had taken the picture, and then back at you. Her friend was laughing, this whole situation was funny to him. Normally ghosts wouldn’t be able to make an imprint on pictures, but he wasn’t any normal ghost. He was classified as a demon, and he was able to manipulate anything.

“Some people think that ghosts can be caught on pictures, but, I’m not really that sure. I’ve never seen a real ghost”, you continue with a chuckle, before you catch Lydia’s serious look. “Did I say something wrong”, you asked her, almost nervous. 

“No, you are right. Ghosts exist, they live in my house. I’ve just never been so lucky as to actually catch one on camera, even though this isn’t really that good of a picture since you know, you can’t really see him, it just looks like a shitty sun flare effect.” She makes a face towards the demon, but you only see empty air.

“Listen, Lydia, I do believe there are more to this world than we understand, but if you keep telling me about all your ghostly roommates, you’re gonna end up giving me a proper scare sooner or later”, you smiled at her, and you were wondering whether this was one of Lydia’s coping mechanisms, that she had made herself imaginary friends, and you were wondering about the reason behind it.

Lydia laughed before she looked at the camera and then towards her house on her left. “Wouldn’t that be fun”, Lydia asked you. She snapped a picture of one of the windows. Your eyes turned to look in the same direction. Lydia was waving at something, but you didn’t know what.

“I’m looking forward to a proper scare”, you grinned. You didn’t actually believe she would be able to, she was a teen, and you didn’t think she had it in her to do so.

“Do you think you can handle it”, Lydia questioned you with her calm and monotone voice.

“There’s only one way to find out”, you told her jokingly, and it looked like Lydia was thinking hard about what you just said, she was starting to change her mind about scaring you, because she thought you were nice to talk to.

“Listen, Lydia”, you started and stood up from where you had been sitting, “These kinds of gatherings aren’t my thing either, so I know how you feel. If you ever need anyone to talk to, I hope you know you can talk to me whenever.”

“Okay”, Lydia shortly answered with a nod.

“I’m gonna go and try to be a good guest and be sociable for a bit”, you told her. “I’ll see you around.”

When you walked away towards a group by the table, Lydia sighed in disappointment as her friend sat down in the spot you had just been a little while ago. “We have to pick out someone else Beetlejuice, she was nice to talk to,” she almost whispered, careful not to have anyone notice she was talking to what was seemingly empty air. He had promised Charles and Delia to keep himself invisible for the guests while they were there. Then, no matter how strange and open to the supernatural the guests were, they wouldn’t be able to see him if they tried.

“I’m just impressed she is so open to our existence but still wasn’t able to see Adam and Barbara in the window”, he said perplexed. “It would be hilarious to frighten her, just like it would be hilarious no matter who we choose, but if you don’t want to pick her, we can scare someone else to death today.” He shrugged. “How about that guy?” He pointed towards a man you were striking a conversation with. He was in his 30s, eating a hotdog, and he was talking on and on about something you found yourself really indifferent to. You tried to be polite and keep the conversation going but honestly, this conversation was boring you.

“So, what’s your plan”, Lydia asked Beetlejuice impatiently. She needed something fun to happen right now, or else she felt like she would explode. “We have to be careful not to make a too big of deal though, or else dad and Delia are gonna kill us both.”

“Let’s be honest with ourselves, kid, they wouldn’t even be able to hurt a fly”, he responded. “Except maybe your step-mother, I mean, she can be weirdly intimidating sometimes, she’s been through some crazy stuff in her life, don’t ask me how I know”, he started to babble, as he did sometimes, “but, listen to me, I know my stuff, and I know exactly what to do with that guy. Just follow me and watch the show.”

Beetlejuice walked excitedly towards you and the man you held a conversation with. Lydia followed him, ready to watch the prank play out and see people’s reaction. You were obviously bored by this guy you were talking to, and you wanted to get out of there but with no clear way out. You felt almost trapped. Beetlejuice was invisible to everyone around him, except for the few people he called his family, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t use his demon powers to change the world around him.

While you were talking to this man, you noticed Lydia slowly walking towards you, a bit sneakily, as if she didn’t want to be noticed. You looked at her, and back to your conversation partner. Right when he was about to take a bite of his hotdog, you saw it change into a black and white striped snake. You gasped frightened as the snake bit the man’s lip, wiggled for a bit before it let go, fell to the ground, and slithered away towards some bushes. The man screamed in pain and panic at what had just happened to him.

“What the..? Did you just see that", he exclaimed, covering his lip where he was bit, but funnily enough, there was no wound. The man was just as puzzled as you. He tried to shake off the feeling, as if he had just been seeing things. This didn’t stop Beetlejuice, he was ready to try again

Lydia was grinning wide, and you looked at her in disbelief. When she noticed, she just shrugged. Not long after you could hear the man scream again. He had tried to help himself to some salad, and when everything on his plate had turned into spiders that started crawling everywhere, he became terrified. You saw the spiders and you were creeped out and slightly frightened. You just couldn’t understand how this was possible. Lydia obviously thought this was hilarious, and Beetlejuice was just happy to hear somebody’s scream. When you noticed Delia angrily stomp towards Lydia you decided this was enough social time for you. You hadn’t been there for very long, it had been maybe about an hour and half, but right now you needed some time to recharge. Unexplainable things had started happening, and you didn't know what to think. You had to go home. 

If only you knew what this was the beginning of. 


	2. It's showtime, baby!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reader goes over to the Deetz’ house to help Lydia with her homework and ends up with having the biggest scare of her life so far. 
> 
> Warnings for this specific chapter includes: swearing, anxiety attacks, and mention/slight description of coulrophobia.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! So I've been working on this the last week. My goal is to try to have a chapter out every tuesday. I am going to be busy with exams until june 2nd tho so I'm not sure if I'll be able to publish anything next week, but I'll be back with a bang! I have the next 13 chapters + general chapter ideas planned, I just have to write them! Hope you enjoy this chapter!  
> More notes at the bottom~

You threw your bag on the floor, slammed your door shut and hurried to the kitchen. It had been a long and stressful day at work, and you were starving. You could have eaten a horse if you had to. You opened the fridge and found the rests from your dinner the day before and put it in the microwave. You leaned your back to the kitchen counter, crossing your arms, while humming to the sound of the microwave. It was a thing you did subconsciously all the time, and every time you noticed, it made you giggle to yourself. Today was no exception. 

It had been a few days since you had been visiting the Deetz family, and the strange things that happened that day had made you overthink the possibilities. You had figured that there were a few options to choose from.

  1. You were going crazy, and you are imagining things.
  2. The man who got bit by the black and white snake was imagining things.
  3. Lydia was right the whole time.



The last possibility frightened you. Even though you had always been open to the idea of spirits, and vampires, and demons, and angels, and who knows what, the idea of at least ghosts being very much real, made you fall into some kind of existential crisis. Your body had become tense at the thought. For you, it meant that everything we know about life and death and love and Earth was wrong. At least partly wrong. Your head felt heavy and messy, and then you suddenly heard a familiar beep.

“Thank god”, you thought to yourself. “Finally!”

You took your food out and sat down by the dining table. Just as you were about to eat you heard your cellphone ringing. You took it out of your pocket and looked at the screen. It was a number you didn’t know. Preparing yourself with a deep breath you answered it. “Hello, it’s Y/N speaking”.

“It’s Lydia”, answered the girl on the other end. “Lydia Deetz. Are you busy today?”

“No, I don’t have any plans today, other than finishing my food. Maybe I’ll do some studying. Why,” you asked before taking a bite of your food.

“Dad and Delia are going out for the night”, Lydia explained to you. “And I don’t want to be alone, so I asked them if it was okay to ask you to come over, and they said yeah. They believe it’s healthy for me to have someone a bit older to look out for me and hang out with apparently.”

You thought about what Lydia had just said, and you thought about what had happened the last time you were at their place. Before you were able to answer, Lydia spoke again. “I have some homework I have problems with too, maybe you can help,” she begged you, making a pouty face and made her voice cute, trying to manipulate you so she would get her way.

“I can probably come over”, you responded. You were too kindhearted to say no. “If you need help with that. What subject?” You took another bite of your food, and you tried your best not to make eating sounds during the conversation while you were talking a bit about her homework.

You came to an agreement that you would be there at 7, and you’d be there until her parents came back home. Lydia had seemed pleased when you hung up, and you saved her phone number, in case she ever called you again. You looked up at the clock on your kitchen wall. It was 5:45, so you had a few hours to yourself before going.

\---

In the old house not far from yours, Lydia and Beetlejuice were now in heavy discussion about how to fully convince you ghosts existed without necessarily giving you a heart attack in the process. Lydia thought you were kinda cool, but she also wanted to have some fun, so this was a difficult situation for her.

“Okay, Lyds, my sister from another mister”, Beetlejuice said, leaning his arm around her shoulders, “how about this, this is a bold suggestion okay, you may like it, you may hate it..”

“Your point, Beej”, Lydia said impatiently.

“We just improvise” he grinned. “Let’s just see what happens and what kind of fun we can come up with when she shows up. I have been doing this stuff for ages. You guys can just do what you asked her to come over for, and I’ll just play my part.”

“My homework”, Lydia answered puzzled, “Beetlejuice, I don’t even want to do my homework.”

“Said like a true, teenage girl”, Beetlejuice sighed and got up from the chair he was sitting on. “Look, you want her to be your friend, yeah?”

“Yeah, but,” Lydia started before being interrupted.

“And you want her to see ghosts, just like you, so you can have this thing to bond over?”

“Right, but,” she began, slightly annoyed at his interruption.

“Then just trust me,” he grinned at her, “I do this scaring thing for a living, I mean dead, you know what I mean.”

When Beetlejuice had convinced Lydia last year to properly summon him by saying his name three times in a row, she had let him gain full control of his powers. That way he was able to change between being invisible and show himself to anyone whenever he wanted, he was able to change the physical form of any object to whatever he wanted, he could possess anyone, ghosts and people alike, he could make people hallucinate, and to some extent he could bend time and space, which he mostly did to quickly get from one place to another, but most importantly, he knew everyone’s fears just by looking at them. There were so many things he could do. Lydia thought of him almost as some sort of wizard who could do anything just by snapping his fingers.

“Fine, okay”, Lydia said eventually. “Just don’t do anything I wouldn’t do”.

\---

You had just come out of the shower and you were contemplating what you should wear. It was almost time to leave. You grabbed a pair of black jeans and top, and when you had gotten dressed you went to your mirror to make sure you looked okay. Then you continued to do a little bit of makeup and fix your hair. You didn’t overdo anything, it was a casual meet up at the Deetz family to watch Lydia for a few hours, but you still wanted to feel good with how you looked when you went out the door.

As you packed your handbag with whatever you thought might be necessary: your phone, your wallet, and keys, you felt like you were missing something and looked around your bedroom. The room wasn’t really messy, but you had a lot of things. There was a lot of papers and various books on your desk, you had a bookshelf with not only books, but some decorations, candles, and old pictures had found its way to this shelf. There was the infamous chair, known as just _the chair_ ; you know the kind that everyone has in their room with clothes you had only used once and never done anything about. Your eyes found a deck of cards resting on your bedside table. You rested your eyes on the deck for a moment. This was a deck of cards your mother had left you when she passed away. Your mother had always been interested in the spiritual and she had claimed this had helped her get in contact with spirits. You had played around with this deck lately, trying to grab an understanding of the fascination your mother had when she was alive.

“What if,” you said out loud to yourself. “Maybe if Lydia is right, it might work.” You grabbed the deck, and put it in your bag, turned off all the lights and locked your door as you left home.

“I mean, if they actually are real, or if she’s a witch maybe, then they can come to good use,”, you thought to yourself walking down the street. “It can’t hurt to try… But what if it’s bullshit”, you thought, as you took a turn and walked up the small hill to their house. “What if I’m being stupid?”

As you found yourself standing right outside their door, you hesitated. You did not know what to expect, and you were anxious to find out how this evening would play out. Right as you were about to ring their doorbell, the door quickly opened, and a familiar face peeked out.

“Y/N,”, she exclaimed, and giggled when you jumped. She had startled you. “Come in!”

You followed her inside, and you realized this was the first time you had the opportunity to take a good look at the building. The living area was spacious, with a fireplace in a corner and a couch, a modern glass coffee table, and a TV. In the other end of the room there was a dining area with a table and six chairs. You saw the entrance to the kitchen right next to the dining table, and you noticed the crooked stairs.

“Dad and Delia just left, so it’s just us”, Lydia told you.

“Oh, okay”, you said as you sat down on their couch. “Did you want some help with homework, or is there anything else you wanna do first? Oh, and I brought Tarot cards,” you smiled, taking the deck out of your bag and placed it on the coffee table.

Lydia lifted an eyebrow and smirked. Beetlejuice had just come into the room to see you start shuffling the cards and he laughed at the sight.

“She actually brought Tarot cards”, he said with surprise. “This is going to be fun!” He talked more to himself than anyone else. He rubbed his hands together, eyes gleaming with mischievous intent, as he sat down next to you to get a good look at the cards. It was the most known Tarot deck of all Tarot decks, the Rider Waite deck.

“Yeah, I got this from my mother when she passed away”, you said as a reaction to Lydia’s facial expression. “Since you said ghosts are real, I thought we could check out if we could try to contact some spirits. Or do you think it’s a dumb idea?”

“No, not at all”, Lydia said and stood next to you. “I’ve never tried these out before though, so you have to guide me through it,”, she continued with a smirk. She looked over to Beetlejuice for a moment and as you spread the cards out on the table, he laid down on the floor to look up at the picture side of the cards through the glass table.

“My mother told me she would ask the deck a question and let her hand guide her to the most fitting card”, you said. “Or she would make these proper card spreads for difficult questions about the future.”

“So, we can ask the deck anything and it will answer you”, Lydia asked with a puzzled face, trying her best to act like she didn’t know Beetlejuice was ready to pull a prank on you.

“Keep playing along, Lydia, I’m trying to find the funniest cards”, he said from under the table. “And also, there’s a good view from down here”, he said and pointed towards your chest while you were repositioning yourself where you sat. Lydia noticed and tried her best to not be too obvious when she shook her head at him and made a face as if to say he was being disgusting. “Hey, what can I say, I never say no thank you to a good view,” he shrugged.

“Yes, anything”, you answered Lydias question, “well, almost anything, we try to stay away from yes/no questions. I don’t remember everything my mother told me about this stuff, but let’s say I am wondering if the spirits here can guide me in the right direction for my future. My question is this: Spirits, is something good coming up in my near future”, you asked the empty air, “then I’ll take my hand and use my intuition to feel what card I should pick,”, you showed her hovering your hand above the cards. Then you felt a force slowly guiding your hand towards a card, you picked it up, and looked at it. Beetlejuice had guided you towards a specific card, and he almost squealed in excitement waiting for your reaction.

“The Death card”, you said calmly, knowing very well what had just happened, and it did creep you out just a little. Beetlejuice sat down next to you. When you looked up, he made himself briefly visible for you.

“It’s showtime, baby”, he grinned maliciously, staring at you with brightly yellow eyes and snapped his fingers. Then everything went pitch black, and you couldn’t see him or anything else anymore. You heard thunder and saw a bright blink of light.

You gasped and felt chills down your spine. You looked at Lydia anxiously when you quickly rose from the couch and stood your ground, ready to attack anything that came near you. “What the hell, is going on”, you fumed, “What was that?”

“I told you last time we met Y/N, it’s a ghost”, Lydia grinned. “That’s Beetlejuice.” She pointed to someone behind you and you were almost scared enough to not look, but you did anyway because at this point it felt like you had no other choice.

You turned your head and saw him floating quickly towards you. You noticed his dirty, striped suit, dark green hair, and then in a matter of milliseconds his face morphed into the one thing you hated the most. Bright, yellow snake-like eyes pierced through your soul, you noticed typical clown makeup, and the classic red nose, but also bloody fangs and long, sharp nails. You froze. When he was so close to your face you swear you could feel his breath, he just very simply said “Boo.”

Everything happened so quickly, it was just a matter of seconds, and your natural reaction was to scream, and you did, you screamed loudly. You hated clowns. It was the one thing you hated more than anything, and this phobia was the stupidest thing you knew, because it was an irrational fear, and it had just made you scream louder than you thought was humanly possible, and you ran into the kitchen, like you thought that was the best place to hide. You just wanted to get away.

Beetlejuice quickly changed into his golden, gameshow host-like jacket in celebration, and said “Thank you, thank you, I’ll be here the whole week”, taking a bow towards Lydia who had a face full of glee. You could faintly hear confetti cannons, and the sound of an audience clapping, but somehow it didn’t feel real to you.

You had sat yourself down in the corner farthest away from the kitchen entrance, with your knees pulled to your chest. Your chest felt heavy, your head felt empty, and the tears just kept falling down your cheeks. Your whole body ached. You didn’t know what to think, you just sat there, forgetting how to breathe. Your face looked almost empty and motionless as you were carefully rocking your body from side to side. Anyone would think you were just spacing out where you sat.

Lydia’s face quickly changed from happy to regretful when she came into the kitchen and saw the state you were in. “Hey, Y/N, are you okay, it was just a prank”, Lydia said quietly, standing just by the kitchen entrance.

“Shit, I think I miscalculated Lyds, move,” Beetlejuice said and moved her out of his way, he had changed back to his everyday suit at this point. “I think she’s having an anxiety attack.”

“How do you even know?” She asked him.

“I’ve been around for a long time Lyds, I know what anxiety is, I’m literally the king of making people anxious.”

Lydia stood quietly not far from you, and Beetlejuice carefully sat down in front of you.

When you saw him, you squealed and tried to move closer to the wall. “Get away from me,” you managed to whisper.

“I am not going to hurt you”, he told you calmly, raising his hands to show you he was serious. “Lydia and I like to prank people, and this time we went a bit overboard.”

Your breathing became unsteady, it felt like you were drowning, and it was difficult to make sense of what he was saying, your eyes being so watery you couldn’t see clearly. Then you faintly heard two pair of feet running down the stairs.

“Lydiaaaa, what is going on”, a woman’s voice said, “We heard a scream”.

Lydia went and stopped them in the living room. “We failed a prank, and Y/N is having an anxiety attack, she needs some space, Beej is trying to help”. Lydia made them sit down in the couch to explain the situation because both the man and woman’s voice seemed clearly distressed, but you couldn’t clearly hear fully formed sentences.

“I need you to look at me, Y/N”, Beetlejuice said, trying to make eye contact with you. “Try to focus on my voice.” He tried to calm you down without really knowing what would help.

You dried your tears with the sleeves of your sweater. They became black stained from your wet mascara and you carefully looked up at him. He didn’t look as terrifying as he previously had done. You took a note of his hair. It looked like it had been dyed green, because his roots were brown, just like his eyes. They locked with yours and you saw the expression on his face, but you couldn’t determine what it meant. He had a scruffy beard that had the same color as his hair, his face was pale and dirty, and you noticed his black and white striped suit that looked so old, well-worn, and unwashed.

“Are you okay”, he asked you. “Does this happen often or is it a one-time thing?”

“It happens from time to time”, you managed to answer. “I can’t control it.”

“Okay, Y/N, I’m going to breathe with you”, he explained. “Follow my lead”, he said, and he took a deep breath, and slowly breathed out again, gesturing with hand motions. Your body relaxed a bit as you tried to follow his slow breathing.

“Good”, he affirmed. “This is what you living guys do right, you breathe?” He tried to be funny in his own kind of stupid way, but it wasn’t really working for you. You just became more distressed by the thought of you being alive and you sat there talking to a guy who to your knowledge was dead. Ghosts were real, and your whole reality had just been turned upside down. You always thought you had been open to the idea of the supernatural, but now everything felt so illogical and strange. Everything felt like spinning and you fell out of your breathing pattern which caused you to start hyperventilating. In turn this made Beetlejuice stressed and confused because he didn’t know what would help.

Strangely, he felt bad for causing this. And he figured it was mostly because Lydia, who he saw as his irritating but fun little sister, had wanted to be your friend, and he imagined how you would never come back to hang out again after this, and how Lydia would hate him for it and use this day against him for years, and that’s what made him feel like he had to try to help you.

“I understand it’s a lot to process”, he said. “But really, breathing helps.” He kept breathing with you until you seemingly calmed down, which for you felt like an eternity. Your body relaxed a little, and he let his hand rest on your knee in an effort to be comforting. He didn’t know what your reaction would be to this, but he imagined that if he had himself been upset, he would want someone to reach out to him. When he touched you, you looked at his hand in disbelief. He was solid, and just as real as yourself. You had always thought that ghosts weren’t able to do what he just did.

“H-how are you”, you started, stopping yourself midsentence and grabbed his hand. You looked at his hand curiously, quickly taking a note of every detail: every line, the black nails, and the dirt that hid under them before your eyes again locked with his. “Lydia said you’re a ghost. Ghosts aren’t supposed to…”

“Oh, I’m a, uh,” he interrupted you and he awkwardly looked down at his hand in yours. He wasn’t exactly used to people just casually holding his hand like you just did, “I’m more of a demon, really. We don’t have to take that discussion right now.” He tried to avoid your question and awkwardly let go of your hand, not sure how to process everything. “Are you okay”, he asked you, more of a distraction to think about anything else but the fact that holding hands had surprisingly been kind of nice.

Your breathing had become more normal at this point, your body had relaxed, but you still felt very much confused. “A demon”, you repeated his words, more to yourself than to him, giving a small laugh as for some reason you couldn’t believe what he was saying, and he shrugged in reply, as to say it wasn’t like he could do anything about it.

After some moments of silence, of you calming yourself down, and him just staying next to you, he decided to speak. He had used some time to think.

“Y/N, we didn’t mean to scare you that bad”, he apologized, which wasn’t really a normal thing for him to do, but he felt like he had to. “I didn’t know you suffered from anxiety or whatever. Scaring people is mine and Lydia’s favorite thing to do together, but she didn’t want to scare you too bad because she thinks you’re cool, and I miscalculated the situation,” he explained to you. 

“You scare people for fun”, you asked him, and used your sleeves once again to try to remove the now dry mascara stains on your face. “That’s fucked up.”

He laughed at your reaction and he stood up and helped you rise to your feet. “We don’t always scare people to death though”, he said with a grin. “Even though I’d very much like to.”

“You guys are so weird,” you said. “Thank you for apologizing though. I don’t like what you did with the clown thing, but thank you for helping me, after you saw how I reacted.”

“Yeah, don’t mention it”, he said. “Come on, let’s go back into the living room, so you can meet Adam and Barbara, they are boring as fuck, but I think you’ll like them.” He started to lead way to the living room, but you stopped for a second.

“Uhm, by the way, before I forget completely,” you started, and he stopped and turned to you to listen to what you had to say. “I know you tried to scare me by picking the death card, but do you know what any of the cards actually mean?”

“No, I have never really cared”, he confessed to you.

“Well, because the Death card just means change,” you explained, “to be open to change and transformation, and open up for new ways of thinking. Well, all depending on the context it can be both positive and negative,” you continued. “If you really wanted to creep me out with the cards alone you should have chosen the Tower.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Reader suffers from anxiety and has been for years, and Beej is touch starved without realizing hahah  
> Please tell me what you guys think so far, this is the first fic I'm working on that I'm publishing for y'all to read, so I really appreciate feedback and please ask if you're wondering about anything! 
> 
> Next week, you will properly meet Adam and Barbara, and it's going to be really cute!!


	3. Questions asked – questions unanswered

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Your head is filled with so many questions about what is going on. You have some girl talk with Barbara, and Beetlejuice is trying to make you laugh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoy this chapter! :)   
> Some information about why I have added some tags in the description and what to expect from this fic in the long run (no actual spoilers) at the bottom ~

You walk with small steps into the living room with Beetlejuice following you. Three sets of concerned eyes look at you. Lydia was quick to get up from the spot she was sitting, and took long steps to meet you, and she started rambling. She was talking so fast you almost couldn’t understand what she was on about, you had to concentrate to make sense of the words coming out of her mouth.

“…Beej had said he knew what he was doing and I was stupid to trust him, and normally it’s fun when people scream and shit their pants, but you’re nice and I didn’t want to freak you totally out, and”, she said before you interrupted her.

“Hey, kid, it’s okay”, you said calmly. “I understand you didn’t mean to, I’m fine.”

Lydia stopped mid-sentence. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I’m fine”, you assured her. “Look, the ghost thing is actually kind of cool, I mean it was the clown thing that freaked me out the most.”

“Yeah?” She asked, before looking at Beetlejuice and punched his arm.

“Hey! What’d you do that for”, he asked her annoyed.

“That’s for being stupid.”

“Lydia, Beej, be nice,” you heard the woman’s voice say, and you looked in her direction. The woman and the man who had previously sat on the couch came walking towards the three of you. Lydia and Beej just gestured towards each other as if to say the other one started it, in reaction to what she just said.

“I’m Adam, and this is my wife Barbara”, the man greeted you. “Lydia filled us in on what just happened, we hope you’re feeling better.”

“You look terrible Y/N,” Barbara said, “your mascara is everywhere. Come with me, I’ll help fix you up.”

“Oh, okay”, you nodded, and followed her, feeling like you didn’t have any other choice but to do what she said. Behind you, you heard a disappointed Adam lecture Lydia and Beej on how to treat people they want to get to know.

Barbara had followed you to one of the bathrooms in the house and started finding cotton pads and makeup remover from the cabinet above the sink. You were amazed at how ghosts were able to interact with normal objects.

“So, you and Adam are ghosts too, or?” You asked her quietly and you started removing your makeup from your face.

“I’m afraid so”, she answered with a kind smile. “We lived here, in this house, before the Deetz’ moved in. I mean we still do; we just don’t own it anymore.”

“I’m sorry”, you said, not really knowing what to say.

“Don’t be. It was scary and really sad at first, but we have gotten used to it,” she started. “We have all become a big family in this house.”

You nodded while you were thinking. “Hey, can I ask you something?”

“Of course, anything”, she smiled.

“If you’re ghosts, does everyone become ghosts when they die? Does everyone just hang around here when they die, or is there a heaven and hell thing too?” You looked at her. Barbara looked like she was in her early 30s, with green eyes and blonde wavy hair that framed her kind face perfectly, and she had this pure demeanor that made it feel like she was the kind of person you could easily open up to.

“Most people go straight to the Netherworld when they die, Y/N. Adam and I just chose to stay.”

“The Netherworld?” You asked confused. “What, is that like hell?”

“I have never been there myself”, she gave a small chuckle and shook her head, “but, I don’t think it’s like hell. It’s like, we have the World of the Living, and then there’s The Netherworld.” 

“So, you don’t have to go there when you die, if you don’t want to?” Your head was working hard, trying to fit the pieces together. You were trying to ask the right questions, without giving to much away to Barbara. Since you hadn’t been able to see ghosts until today, maybe, just maybe your parents were still around. If not, you would have to find another way to find them and tell them all the things you wish you had when they were still alive.

“Y/N, it’s a complicated story, we can talk about it when you don’t have so much on your plate.”

You threw away the used cotton pads, and Barbara put the makeup remover back in the cabinet.

\----

When you eventually had talked Lydia into going to bed because it was late and she had school in the morning, you realized how this house reminded you somewhat of a zoo, and it felt like you had been babysitting four people sharing one single braincell.

You had helped Lydia with homework that evening, just as you had promised, even though she hadn’t really been keen on working with this particular subject because she struggled, and it was irritating her. While had been helping her, you swore there was always some kind of background noise. Barbara and Adam had been in the attic, they said they were doing practicing their ghost abilities, whatever that meant. You realized most of the background disturbance was just Beetlejuice being Beetlejuice.

He had constantly been sneaking around. In one moment he was sitting next to you and asking what you were doing, in the next you noises from the kitchen, he was watching tv and ate popcorn at one point, and when he saw someone walk past outside you could see him quickly disappear before hearing a loud scream and then hear him laugh for himself when he suddenly appeared again, and then you swore it looked like he was chasing a fly at some point. You assumed he had been terribly bored when Lydia had been busy with more important things. Now when Lydia had gone to bed, the house was mysteriously quiet. You sat in the kitchen, waiting for Charles and Delia to come back home.

Lydia had confessed to you before going to bed that she had asked you to stay the whole evening just to try to persuade you to come over in the first place, she was a teenager after all and didn’t need a sitter. She meant she could take care of herself until her dad and Delia came home. Right now, you sat looking at the clock on the wall and thought about everything. Not just about Lydia needing someone who could help her with some normality and stability in her life, but she was fun to hang with. She was bright for her age; she just needed a little push and some encouragement. You thought that this whole family needed someone to look after them, because they were weird as hell and somehow, they needed some sort of babysitter, and you were wondering if that was just casually going to end up to be yourself to take that position. 

You stood with a glass of water and used a straw to blow bubbles in it, lost in thought. You needed something to laugh at right now. The whole day had been exhausting and doing this helped you think about other things for a bit.

“What are you doing”, you heard someone question from beside you and you jumped, water coming out of your nose, and you looked at him.

“Beetlejuice!” You exclaimed, water in your face and on your clothes.

He was trying to fight a snicker. “Hey, I wasn’t even _trying_ to scare you, but that reaction was hilarious! How did you get the water to shoot out of your nose that way? Let me try!” And he took the glass of water out of your hands.

“I don’t really know,” you answered, awkward at what was just happening, using your sleeves to try to dry the water on your face while Beetlejuice took a big sip of the water. “What are you even,” you started before being interrupted by the sound of him spitting the water into open air.

“Nope, can’t do it. Can’t make it come through my nose like that”, he said and shook his head, looking at you, giving you the glass back. “Show me again, I have to learn how to do a stupid spit-take like that for when people say something funny.” He grinned.

You giggled at him. “I don’t know if you’re being sarcastic or actually serious”, you said.

“I don’t even know myself”, he answered.

You were standing in the kitchen for a while. You had been talking about life and death and space, you had so many questions you needed answering, but it was difficult to get a serious answer out of him. You realized that Beetlejuice was damn old too, you thought he must have been around for millennia, because he had a fair share of memories and experiences to prove it. It had been nice to get to see a more casual side of him that made you forget the moment when he scared you nearly to death.

“Actually, I just wanted to ask you something,” he said after a bit of talking.

“Sure, anything.”

“Can I follow you home tonight?” He smirked at you as a sign of what he was implying.

You couldn’t believe it. Was he hitting on you?

“Beetlejuice, what the hell”, you said, not knowing if you should laugh or not, “no, just no.” You used your hand to carefully push him away from you to keep your distance.

“I was joking,” he grinned and waved a white flag in his hand. “I get it, you’re angry at me for what happened today.”

Then you heard Charles and Delia come in through the front door, and you thanked heaven and hell for their good timing. You looked at the clock on the wall, it showed 11:45. This moment was your chance to leave. You went out into the living room to grab your bag, and Beetlejuice followed after you.

Charles and Delia shared confused looks when they saw you.

“Y/N! What are you doing here?”, Charles asked.

You looked at Beetlejuice and then back at them. “Uhm, Lydia had called and asked if I could come over and stay until you two came back”, you answered. “I helped her with some homework and stuff. She’s gone to sleep. Beetlejuice has been keeping me company while I was waiting for you.”

“Oh”, Charles simply answered and looked at Beetlejuice and then back at you, “I hope they haven’t been too much trouble.”

“Not at all, it’s been great”, you said, brushing off the feeling of how unusual this day really had been for you.

You made some friendly chitchat before Charles and Delia thanked you for having kept their family company while they were out, and they went upstairs, leaving you once again alone with the ghostly demon.

“Hey, Y/N”, Beetlejuice said and cleared his throat just as you were opening the front door to go home. “If you’re being followed out there in the dark on your way home, need me to kill someone off for you, or need me for anything at all, just give me a call.” He handed you a business card.

“Okay, thanks”, you gave him a small smile, and put the card in your pocket without looking at it.

When you came home you went straight to lay down on the coach and you turned on the tv. Your mind had so much to process at this point, and you just needed to relax. Even though you tried to focus on the sit-com on the tv, your mind couldn’t help but race through everything that had been happening in the last few hours.

You thought about Lydia. She seemed depressed and moody, but she was also so interesting, and it had been really nice to see her laugh, and you thought about her mother. No one had told you where she was, but you knew Delia was Lydias stepmother, and whatever had happened in Lydia’s life you knew must have been hard for her to experience. You thought about Adam and Barbara, the sweet couple who had died in that house, and how they had decided to stay in the living world instead of moving on to the Netherworld, like everyone else apparently did, and then your mind went on to think about Beetlejuice. 

Beetlejuice; the demon, the trickster, the ‘I-scared-the-living-shit-out-of-you-but-I’m-sorry”-Beetlejuice. He had brought you on an emotional rollercoaster you didn’t even know was possible. He had scared the living shit out of you by using your phobia against you and you hated him for it. But then again, he had tried to help you out of your anxiety attack, and he had apologized, but it had felt more like he did it because he had to. Then he continued to be a stupid dork the whole day and you had laughed together, but then he had tried to flirt with you when you were alone, and you didn’t know what to feel about that. He was a ghost-demon. He was dead. A knot was forming in your stomach. You convinced yourself you absolutely did not like him at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you have gotten this far there are some things I want to talk about.   
> I just wanted to say that I am trying my best to make "reader" as relatable as possible in this fic, but I am not used to writing and it's hard to get the vibe I am going for just right, and I realize I may have given her some characteristics that makes it difficult for people to relate. Last chapter I made her deal with phobia and I chose that specific phobia randomly for artistic purposes, though it can be easily changed to whatever you may be most afraid of.   
> I want this fic to resonate with lgbtq readers and readers with anxiety disorders. Some chapters will include these themes from the readers pov, but they will not disturb the general plot line of the fic. I think I am going to put a "warning" for themes in the top notes before each chapter, so you can skip them if you want to.   
> I still hope this is a fic y'all can enjoy and find interest in reading anyway though.


	4. Peanut butter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You help Lydia with studying for an important test, you observe some family drama, (what is happening with Barbara?) and you get to know our favourite ghost with the most a little better

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry, it's been a while since my last update! I have been busy with exams and writing my bachelor's thesis! But I'm back, and ready to continue writing this little project of mine. Enjoy~

It’s late September, and you’ve known Lydia and her family for a few weeks now. You’ve regularly come over to visit, both to help Lydia with the homework because there was this one subject she really struggled with, and just to hang out, because her family had grown on you. You didn’t have many people in your close circle, but Lydia and her family were easy to be around. They could be fun, and it was much better to have someone you could hang with from time to time than to stay completely isolated and alone in your own apartment. However, every time you came over to their place, Beetlejuice had greeted you with a cheesy pick-up line, and you didn’t know how to react to it. In the beginning you had wrinkled your nose and laughed at him for trying to make a move on you, but when he claimed he was just joking around and didn’t expect anything to come out of it, you had eased up a bit. At this point it had become some sort of greeting ritual between the two of you. He said a new, bad pick up-line every day you came to visit, and you answered every time with your standard, “you wish”. From your point of view, it had always been just friendly teasing.

Lydia was a clever girl, but with her concentration she tended to only really focus on the things she enjoyed. This meant that if she had to work on something for school she couldn’t be less bothered with, she didn’t do the work before she really had to. Lydia had claimed she worked better under pressure, but you knew this wasn’t the case. Lydia was generally reasonable, but she would rather have fun than to work with something that made her wish she could just die instead. You two were sat by the dining table, textbooks, laptop, and stationary spread everywhere. She had a test coming up, and her whole body was tense with stress.

“Have you tried using flashcards”, you suggested.

“No”, she sighed. “That’s not going to work.”

“How can you know for sure before you try”, you asked her. “I’ve used flashcards many times when I’ve had to learn something new.” You grabbed some paper and a pair of scissors. “Let me see your notes.”

Lydia showed you her notes on the chapter she had been working on, pages and pages filled with messy scribbles, and color-coded highlights, and small drawn doodles and sketches where there was room. You gave her the pieces of paper you cut out.

“Write terms on one side and then definitions on the other, keep it easy and straight to the point” you instructed her, quickly pointing at the paper in her hands. “Just writing everything down several times helps you remember, it works wonders.”

Lydia did as you told her to. “I just don’t understand why I have to learn this if I’m never going to use it anyway”, she complained.

“Knowledge is power”, you said and without finishing what you were about to say, you were interrupted by voices and the sound of feet walking down the stairs and into the room.

“Oh, no, I have wanted to do this for weeks”, Delia said gleefully while walking down the stairs with what seemed like colored paper in her hands. While looking closer you saw they were painting samples. “It is going to change the energy in here!”

The three ghosts were walking close behind her. Adam and Barbara had followed Delia into the kitchen clearly distressed about what they were talking about, but when Beetlejuice noticed you, he walked up next to you, leaned his elbow on the table, looking you straight in your eyes, with a mischievous smile on his face. He hadn’t noticed you had come to visit until now, and you knew that your greeting routine was coming up. You looked at him and sighed. If you could just get it over with already, you thought.

“You come here often, babes”, he asked you, trying to act cool. And had he dyed his hair? Because you could faintly see some pink streaks blended in with the typical green.

“That’s not even a proper pick-up line, Beej, that’s just a conversation starter,” you tell him a bit matter-of-factly.

“And look at the two of us, having a conversation. It’s working!”

“You wish”, you laughed at him and softly pushed him away. “We’re busy.”

He took the hint and kept smiling as he walked into the kitchen where a loud discussion was taking place.

Lydia had been sitting there next to you rolling her eyes at you while trying to work on her flashcard crafting skills. “Just so you know, he flirts with everyone,” She told you. “You should have seen him with the mailman last week. Before he scared the shit out him, I mean.”

“Yeah, that doesn’t surprise me, to be honest, he seems like that kind of guy”, you answered thinking about how he seemed like he didn’t care what other people thought of him. “Wait, he’s gay?” Your eyes widened when you realized what she had said.

“I don’t know”, she looked at you like you were stupid. “I don’t think he cares about gender, but that’s not my business, you should ask him yourself.”

In the kitchen, Barbara and Delia were discussing redecorating options, Barbara becoming sadder by the minute. Delia was enthusiastic and just wanted to do a nice change, talking about all the things she had planned. Barbara hated the color Delia had chosen for the paint, and she was on the verge of tears.

“Barbara, honey, it’s going to be fine, please calm down,” Adam tried to comfort his wife, holding around her shoulders.

“No, our kitchen is going to be ruined”, she roared.

“Hey, Babs, this is the perfect moment for you to let your anger out”, Beetlejuice shoots in. “You know, being a ghost and all.”

Normally, Barbara would have calmed herself, but she was so distressed right now she couldn’t think clearly. Beetlejuice had kept trying to convince her to use her feelings as a way to use her haunting powers. It didn’t go long before you heard a loud noise. You jumped in your chair while holding your hand to your heart before you realized what was going on, and you ran to the kitchen entrance. You saw Barbara’s shadow-like eyes, shattered glass on the floor, and the ceiling light flickering. She had screamed and somehow thrown a wine glass she wasn’t near at all in his direction, hitting the cabinet behind him. The room was weirdly eerie while at the same time full of energy.

“Feisty, I can dig that”, Beetlejuice said in surprise, adjusting his suit. “You’re getting the hang of it!”

Barbara’s eyes then changed back to her normal color and she looked at the people around her with worry. “I’m so sorry,” she apologized. “I don’t know what that was.”

“Anger, Babs, that was anger”, Beetlejuice mumbled.

“I’m the one who should be sorry”, Delia said directly to Barbara. “This is your home too, we should have healthy discussions about what to do with the décor, I may have been too enthusiastic about my vision.”

“Let me help clean up the broken glass, I really didn’t mean to do that,” Barbara kept apologizing for her actions.

“This became dull very quickly, I’m out.” Beetlejuice rolled his eyes and grabbed a spoon and a jar of peanut butter before he walked away. You noticed some streaks of blue and orange in his normally fully green hair as he passed you on his way out.

Barbara and Adam had been dead for about a year, but they still weren’t too used to their ghostly powers. Haunting wasn’t their strong suit, and they especially didn’t like to use their powers for negative doings. Beetlejuice had for what felt like forever for him tried to help them control their powers by connecting them to their emotions, because that was what had been working for him. Though, he felt like Barbara and Adam never listened, which in turn made him annoyed and somewhat sad, but he was never going to admit that to anyone.

Every time Beetlejuice was in a bad mood, he went up to sit on the roof, and today was no exception. It was his spot, the one place he felt like he could just let everything out without hurting anyone if he accidentally would say or do something wrong. This spot had just been generally accepted by his family as his. He was sitting looking over the town, reflecting, with the jar of peanut butter in his hands.

Beetlejuice had been alone for millennia, and now when he had people close to him that he was able to call his family, communication was still difficult for him. He just wanted people to listen, really listen, but it seemed to him like they didn’t care at all. So now he was sitting there, just looking towards the tiny houses and the trees and the sky with the many cotton candy like clouds and tried not to think. He remembered how it was like to be human for just a moment about a year ago, and he was almost grateful he didn’t have to feel so intensely every day. He figured it would have been incredibly hard. Imagine if he was human now and felt annoyed. It would have been terrible, e figured, but in a way he also kind of missed being human. 

He thought about how human emotions were such a rollercoaster and how they were everywhere, constantly changing and floating into each other at the same time, and how it felt like just being alive. Beetlejuice could feel emotions, just not to the same degree. He thought about how Barbara had become so angry because she was afraid her kitchen would be ruined, again, and how he understood the feelings she had, and he had still fired her up. He had just wanted her to get some control of the powers she had, but the situation had left him feeling bad about everything. Lydia had also been so busy lately, having a new friend in her life she could hang around with, and who could help her with important school things, and now she didn’t have as much time to hang around with him anymore, like she had done this summer. And he felt like you were also pushing him away even though he tried to be likeable and fun, but he had also managed to give you a big anxiety attack when you first met, and he felt stupid. He felt like he needed to prepare in case he would be so unlucky as to make it happen again.

Beetlejuice felt almost invisible. He knew he was able to do whatever and go wherever he wanted, but he just wanted to feel like the people he lived with cared about him, because he had lived his whole life feeling like a burden. He shook his head at the thought. No, he didn’t want to think anymore. He knew deep down his found family cared, if not they wouldn’t let him stay, but the feeling of being a disappointment he had grown up with all his life was overbearing.

“I just want to go on a fucking murder spree,” he mumbled angrily to himself, his hair becoming a bit more red. Then he jumped as he was disturbed by the sound of a window opening.

“Hey, Beej, are you okay? You disappeared”. You had asked Lydia where to find him when he had left, and she had told you he usually sat on the roof when he was being grumpy. So, you decided to go look for him while she was working on making the flashcards for her studying.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be”, he answered, hair turning back to the blueish purple, trying to act all tough and like everything was okay, taking a spoonful of peanut butter from the jar on his lap.

“You just looked kinda annoyed when you left”, you told him. You noticed the jar he was holding and the spoon in his mouth. “Do demons eat food?”

“Why, are you asking me out”, Beetlejuice asked you with a snicker.

You rolled your eyes at him and giggled. “No, you are holding a giant jar of peanut butter.”

“Oh. Right,” he looked down at the jar he was holding, it was almost empty.

“Listen, Beej, I wanted to ask you something. I understand that it just comes natural to you, at least Lydia said so, but I don’t really like all the pick-up lines every time we meet,” you told him, and it was the truth. It was weird. You thought he was fun to be around, but he was just the opposite of alive, and it was no chance in hell it was even going to turn into something between the two of you, so you thought it was best to just be clear with him about it, even though when you thought about it he could be kinda cute.

“I’ve told you I’m just messing with ya,” he answered you quietly, and you sensed something was really wrong, because he wasn’t like the happy, mischievous guy you had been getting to know.

“Are you sure you’re okay”, you asked, walked out the window and sat down not far from where he sat. You weren’t really fond of heights, and this roof was really high up, but you took a chance. You noticed his hair was a different color than his usual green. “If you need a friend to talk to, you can talk to me.”

“No, I’m fine”, he answered quickly, but also with an unusual high-pitched voice, like he was lying to you.

“Look, if it makes you feel better, and you promise you’re not actually interested in me then okay, keep them pick-up lines coming. Keep being a creepy, and happy, and mischievous peanut butter eating demon. Just don’t sit here and be sad, because you’re making me sad.”

He just looked at you, seemingly not knowing what to say.

“Come on, what do I have to do to make you feel better,” you asked him, trying to be friendly.

He didn’t answer and tried to ignore you by taking another spoonful of the peanut butter.

“Did you know”, you started, pointing at the jar, “Three million people in the U.S. are allergic to peanuts and tree nuts. Fun fact.” You thought making him think about something else but what he was thinking about might help.

“Huh,” he said with surprise. “I didn’t know.” 

“Most people have peanut allergies for life, but 20% of children outgrow them,” you continued. “People can be so allergic it can kill them to just be in the same room with a pack of open peanuts. I read it in an article once.”

You noticed his hair gradually shifting from blue to green. You were curious about his hair but figured now wasn’t the best time to ask.

“I am terribly afraid of heights,” you said without thinking, with an uncomfortable laugh and you instantly regretted saying it. Why were you telling a demon who loved scaring people about your fears?

“I know”, he answered. “I knew the moment I saw you.”

“What?”

“Demon things,” he waved with his spoon, talking with his mouth full. “I have learned how to instantly figure out what people are afraid of. Call it a hidden talent. You have an impressive list of fears by the way, I’m surprised you’re out here actually.”

“No, I’m fine,” you said, even though he was right. Your body was tense with the fear of fainting or falling down and hurting yourself. “I know it’s just your thing. Scaring people, killing people, I don’t know, but I’ve been talking with Lydia and she trusts you, so I think I can trust you. And you’re not really that scary, honestly, look at yourself,” you gestured towards him. “You remind me of a raccoon.”

“Is it the stripes,” he asked you with a grin, pointing to his striped suit.

“Yeah, totally the stripes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, and please tell me what you think! I've sent this to a friend too for proof reading and she thought it was really cute, so I hope you guys think so too:) 
> 
> I just want to inform y'all that I am working on the next chapter, but I am having a bit of writers block. I have a good idea of what I want, but translating the comedy I see in my head to written text isn't always easy. I will however try to update regularly, and have a new chapter out at least once a week. I like to give myself about a week to write, rewrite, and rewrite again, until the vibe feels right hahaha but yeah, if everything works out right, you guys can expect a new chapter next monday, maybe even before!


	5. What to do when dealing with a bully

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lydia has a confession to make about something that happened at school. You receive a text message from a co-worker.~
> 
> Chapter Warnings: Swearing, small hint of harassment

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy update-day, y'all!~  
> This chapter is a bit on the shorter side, but I hope it's okay. I'll make the next a bit longer to make it up to you haha!  
> We are dealing with a heat wave where I live right now, and my brain is turning to mush
> 
> More notes at the end

“I got B, on the test”, Lydia smiled. “Thank you, Y/N, for your help, the flashcards miraculously worked!”

“Amazing! No problem, Lydia”, you smiled into your mobile phone. You were sat at home on your couch watching TV when Lydia had called you. “Hey, ya wanna celebrate with ice cream?”

“I’m not 10 anymore, Y/N, I don’t need to celebrate passing a test”, Lydia rolled her eyes, “but yeah, I like ice cream.”

“Cool, I’ll be over soon, what kind do you want? I’ll drop by the store on the way.”

You were pleased to hear Lydia had done so well on the test she had studied hard for. It was just a test, but all the test results would make up her final grade, and it was important to Lydia to do well. When you hung up on her after your conversation, you couldn’t help but smile. In a way this had proved your teaching skills to be better than you expected to as well, and you thought ice cream was the best way to celebrate every time one is reaching a new achievement. 

***

It hadn’t taken long before you were at their place and you sat with Lydia and Beetlejuice at the dining table. Delia had also stopped by the kitchen and with a quirky smile taken some from one of the tubs.

“Don’t mind me, I’m just like a fly on the wall”, she had chirped before she just as swiftly had left again with a bowl in her hands.

The three of you were discussing school and friends, and Lydia had been rambling on about some ideas she had for a photography project in which she was really excited about.

“Oh, Lydia, you have to tell her what you told me earlier!” Beetlejuice suddenly exclaimed. He didn’t really have to eat, but he had wanted to show support, so he had joined the two of you, mostly just playing around with the spoon in the bowl, making the ice cream look porridge-like and gooey.

“No, I don’t, it was nothing,” Lydia said quietly.

“But, Lyds, it was really funny!”

“What happened? Should I be worried”, you asked them both a bit nervously.

“If you don’t tell her, I will,” he said, almost a bit too enthusiastically.

She stared a bit at Beetlejuice before she felt defeated. “Okay, fine,” she said a bit annoyed and threw her hands in the air, before giving her attention towards you. “So, this girl in my class is a real jerk, and I may or may not have hid bugs in her schoolbag for payback.” Lydia told you, crossing her arms. “She hates bugs,” she mumbled.

You looked at her with wide eyes. “You what!? You didn’t get detention or anyting, did you?”

“Beej helped,” she said in defence and pointed at him. “And no, no one suspected a thing."

“Hold up, wait a minute, I got nothing to do with this, this was all her”, he waved a small, white flag.

“If you didn’t give me the jar with the bugs, I wouldn’t be able to fill her schoolbag with them,” Lydia said loudly.

“Okay, fine, it was all me,” he sighed with a smug smile, and with a poof the flag disappeared, “but she deserved it.”

“You should have heard her scream when she saw them, it was really funny.”

“Hey,” you interrupted them. “Why did you do this? Filling someone’s schoolbag with bugs isn’t exactly a very nice thing to do.”

“As I said, she’s a jerk. A bitch. A wicked wench.”

“Lydia, there’s always going to be people in the world who isn’t nice people, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be better than them and show them how to be kind. With that said, tell me, why did she deserve it? What did she do?”

Lydia looked down on her bowl of half eaten ice cream.

“I have my reasons, just let me,” she started before being interrupted.

“Her name is Claire, she has been bullying Lydia for years, and this is the first time she got payback”, Beetlejuice said. “And let’s face it, being kind to someone who doesn’t deserve it doesn’t help anything.”

Claire was the total opposite of Lydia, a blonde and blue-eyed spoiled girl with a love for fashion and making others lives miserable. Claire was the kind of person that could be really mean and snarky but still look so positive and almost innocent, pretending she cared about her closest friends but in reality, hated everyone. At least, that’s what it seemed like for Lydia, and she thought Claire could be so easily manipulative and get everything her way, which she just didn't like at all. 

“Gee, thanks, BJ,” Lydia said sarcastically through closed teeth.

“I’m just saying the truth, I thought that was a nice thing to do?”

“Beej, this is Lydia’s story to tell, please don’t put words into her mouth,” you told him, and he frowned in response. “Lydia, I know it’s not easy handling bullies, but being mean is not the best way to handle things. You don’t fight fire with fire.”

“I was just angry with her, I wanted to see her shit her pants. Not actually, but you know.”

This confession had prompted a discussion around the dining table about what to do when handling a bully in school. What was okay to do, and what was not? Where does the line go before you turn into a bully yourself?

“Okay, so what do we do Lydia, when you are faced with bullying or harassment at school?” You ask her, after having lectured them both as friendly as possible for a little while.

“Homicide,” Beetlejuice said with an obvious fake cough, quickly before Lydia could give an answer.

“Beej, no!” You exclaimed. You tried to remain serious as it was a serious topic, but you couldn’t help but laugh and you tried your best to hide it. He noticed though, and he seemed proud of himself.

“He is right. If we can’t thrill her, then let’s kill her,” Lydia shot in.

“Good rhyme, Delia would be proud,” he told her.

“Thanks, Beej.”

You sighed. “I give up.”

***

When you arrived back home, you were tired, but the good kind of tired. You had come to love Lydia’s strange family, however you felt like your energy was drained and you needed a recharge as you usually did when you had been out and social with people. You put your bag down on the table in your living room and plunked yourself down on the couch when your cellphone made a sound in your pocket. You grabbed your phone to see who was messaging you. It was a co-worker, and the look of his name on your screen was enough to make you groan in disgust. He was one of the reasons you dreaded going to work when you had your shifts. Hunter had been giving harassing comments to his female co-workers over some time. He had commented your hair, your clothes, your figure, and it was always a sort of chauvinistic tone, and you did absolutely not like it. You had tried talking with your boss about Hunter’s problematic behavior, but for some reason he hadn’t taken you seriously, so now, you were just trying to live with it and try to work around it somehow, and now your co-worker had tried to get your attention outside of work, like harassing you there wasn’t enough.

You read the text and instantly you felt your head started hurting from anger and stress. You had to re-read the message a couple of times, just to make sure you had read correctly. He had in a very inappropriate manner asked you out for drinks. You groaned and hid your face into a cushion. It wasn’t the first time he had asked you out, and you had turned him down every time. He just couldn’t take no for an answer, and he rather saw you as a challenge. Like a prize to be won. You just wanted to ignore him and not reply at all. Your hands had started shaking and your heart started beating a little harder. You wished he could just disappear from the world so you or your other female co-workers didn’t have to deal with him anymore, and then you realized, you knew someone who actually might be able to help you out and make that happen. You shook your head, no. You couldn’t wish death upon your worst enemy, you were too kindhearted, but it was allowed to dream a little. Right? Maybe just scaring him a little bit would be fine. Maybe he would stay away then, you kept thinking out loud to yourself. You were wondering if Beetlejuice would even be willing to help you out, and if you even should ask him for help at all. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanted to say thank you for reading, and if you have followed this story so far I hope you are intrigued enough to keep going. I appreciate kudos, comments, and bookmarks so much~
> 
> I can say that timeline wise: next chapter happens at October 1st, and the next few chapters will be fun, so stay tuned! 
> 
> Oh, and honestly, I am not American, and the Amercan education system is confusing to me, but I hope I did something right here hahaha


	6. October 1st means movie night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lydia has several traditions when it comes to the Halloween month. October 1st you and her family are gathered to watch a classic horror movie. Beetlejuice falls asleep from boredom, and you become a little more drawn to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes at the bottom~

October was Lydia’s favorite month. Not because there became more of the rain filled days and she could sit by the window and look outside while listening to her favorite bands, and it wasn’t because of the many warm cups of hot chocolate she would drink during this season, and it wasn’t because of the gradual change in color of the leaves on the trees outside; from greens to bright yellows and reds. It wasn’t because summer was over and she didn’t have to drown in sweat from the heat, and it wasn’t because she could find her favorite, thick, cozy sweaters hidden far inside her closet. She loved all these things about fall, but for her, October 1st meant first and foremost countdown to Halloween. For Lydia it meant dying trees, celebrating lost souls, it meant horror movies, mountains of candy on Halloween night and it meant drama and having fun, but also most of all, now it meant remembering her mother.

Lydia and her mother Emily had always been in love with Halloween. It had been their day to celebrate together. During Lydia’s upbringing, Emily had always had a fascination and love for the creepy and strange and unusual. They had dressed up together and Emily had taken her daughter out for trick or treating when Lydia was young. Lydia felt a bit old for it now, and as her mother had passed, she felt a form om melancholic feeling lying over this month, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t try her best enjoy it.

Over the years she had gradually moved from just celebrating the one day, October 31st, to rebranding the whole month to just _Halloween month_ , and she loved it. During this month she had movie marathons, she read her favorite gothic novels, and she gave all her love to all things not normal. After she came to realize ghosts existed her whole understanding and love for the world had just heightened.

Today was Friday October 1st, and that meant movie-night. October 1st meant Delia cleansing her crystals in the morning and cooking foods and snacks for the evening. October 1st meant Charles leaving early from work to spend the day with his family. October 1st meant Barbara and Adam Maitland could find their old decorations in the attic that Lydia could use as she pleased. For Beetlejuice, October 1st had looked like any other day until he came to stay in the Maitland/Deetz household, and now it meant being part of tradition. For you, this October 1st meant being invited to hang and be social with Lydia and her family. You didn’t have a close family of your own anymore, and you didn’t have many close friends, so to be gradually more and more included in her family had made your heart jump with glee.

You sat in their couch in your pajamas, well, sweatpants and an oversized t-shirt. The whole family was gathered in the living room with comfortable clothing, Delia and Barbara had helped each other cooking and plating up snacks and placed on the table so everyone could serve themselves with what they wanted during the movie. Adam was sat on the floor with a sheet with two wholes cut out for his eyes over his head. It was Halloween month, so he had to dress up, he had said. Lydia and Beetlejuice were sat on the floor and in the middle of discussing what movie to put on. She had found her collection of horror movies, so she was ready for the following days, and Beetlejuice was flicking through the DVDs. He was trying to find something more interesting than what Lydia had wanted them to watch.

“But Beej, it’s tradition, we always watch Psycho on October 1st”, Lydia complained. “It’s a classic.”

“Psycho isn’t even scary, Lyds. I don’t understand how you can classify it as a horror movie”, Beetlejuice answered annoyed. “Do you have anything that is, ya know, actually scary? Why is this rated R?”

“By today’s standards it’s PG 13, actually.” She grabbed the cover out of his hands.

“I think Psycho is okay, Beej”, Charles suddenly said, calm but strict, and Beetlejuice turned around to look at him. “Think about everyone else in the room too, not everyone is a demon who can handle everything.”

“Fine,” Beetlejuice answered. He didn’t like it, but he had found a great deal of respect for Charles, and he knew when to pick his battles.

Lydia put on the movie and went to sit on the other end of the couch from you and Beetlejuice plunked himself down in the middle of the two of you and grabbed the bowl of popcorn.

“Hey, you have to share”, Lydia said and reached for the bowl. She was too slow though, because Beetlejuice was quick to place one hand on her forehead to keep her at a distance, and held the bowl with the other hand, keeping it as far away as possible. What he didn’t expect was that you grabbed the bowl, which in turn made the both of them wide eyed and you stood up.

“I was holding that”, Beetlejuice said surprised.

“Right”, you answered calmly. “Scooch over, Beej.” You made a hand motion to say you wanted him to move over to where you had been sitting, and he moved, making room for you in the middle between of the two of them. “I’ll hold the bowl for now, then you can both grab popcorn whenever you want.”

“There’s more to pop in the kitchen if it get’s empty”, Delia chimed in.

Adam then hushed at you all for being too noisy. “Are we watching the movie, or what?” He asked gesturing with his hands towards the tv, and he had a hint of anger in his voice, which wasn’t really normal for Adam at all. Adam was usually the quiet, a bit socially awkward type. Everyone turned silent in response. You and Beetlejuice’s eyes met as a reaction to what had just happened, thinking Adams reaction and everyone’s response was a bit weird. In the moment it seemed like you knew what the other was thinking, and with the addition of Beetlejuice’s facial expression which made you grin, the both of you ended up trying your best to not laugh. You had to look away and stare into the tv to focus on not laughing. It wasn’t Adam that was funny, it wasn’t what he had said or how he said it, it had been Beetlejuice’s fault. It didn’t seem to you like anyone cared about the two of you, the rest of the family seemed to try to be focused on the movie, but you sat there for a while, trying your best to not look back at Beetlejuice again, because you knew if you did you would be doomed and you wouldn’t be able to stop laughing at all.

At one point during the last half part of the movie you could feel Beetlejuice’s head falling heavy on your shoulder, which had startled you, but when you heard a small snore you couldn’t help but smile a little for yourself. The room was dark, only slightly luminated from the tv in front of you. Next to you, Lydia’s eyes were so intensely invested in the movie, her hand deep into the bowl of chips on her lap, and her leg slightly bouncing in a steady rhythm. You didn’t think she or anyone else noticed when you casually started running your fingers through Beetlejuice’s hair. You didn’t really think about it, it just happened. He was asleep, and you didn’t know if you did it just because of your caring nature, or if it was because you were curious about his hair in the first place, or if it was because he was everything but frightening there he was half sitting, half lying next to you, resting his head on your shoulder. You thought he was actually kinda cute, similar to a cat cuddling up to someone in its sleep. His hair had some tangles here and there, especially the longer part in the front, but his hair was surprisingly soft and fluffy. For the most part of the movie you sat there, with his head on your shoulder, the very quiet sound of him snoring in your ear which sounded almost like a cat purring, and you just played with his hair from time to time. _It’s just comforting_ , you thought. _It doesn’t mean anything_ , you thought. _This is normal, right? Playing with a friend’s hair while he sleeps is normal_. You kept thinking for a little while and then you stopped, pretending like nothing, not noticing how Beetlejuice hadn’t made a single sound for a little while.

Soon after you stopped, the movie finished, and Barbara was the first to speak. “It’s not my favorite movie, it was actually quite disturbing, but this is a nice tradition. Everyone gathered together, the snacks, the drinks, it’s cozy.” She gave her husband Adam a kiss on the cheek, which he gladly accepted before she stood to her feet and started cleaning up the table. Then she looked at you. “Is Beej asleep?” She whispered in surprise, like she couldn’t believe her own eyes.

“Yeah, he must have thought the movie wasn’t interesting enough,” you whispered back. “I didn’t know ghosts and demons could sleep.”

“We don’t usually”, Adam explained, removing the sheet that had been covering him the whole time. “I mean, we can, we just don’t usually do. It’s nice to get some rest from time to time though.”

“Do you need us to move him for you?”, Charles asked you with a furrowed brow, like he thought you weren’t able to move him away from your shoulder yourself.

“You must be tired, the guest bedroom is ready for you,” Delia added.

“Oh, no, no, I’m fine”, you answered quietly. “I don’t want to wake him; I’ll find my way up in a little bit myself. Thank you though.” Charles just nodded in response, Delia and the rest almost seemed concerned to you but still respected your answer.

“Just tell us if you need anything, okay”, Delia continued.

You gave her a smile. “I will, thank you.” You shifted your position a bit, careful as if not to wake him, making it more comfortable to sit there. The rest of the family said their good nights and went to their own rooms.

“Why did you stop playing with my hair”, you heard Beetlejuice’s gruff voice say quietly when you had been sitting there for a few minutes. It was said so unusually soft that it startled you and you made a small jump and shrieked where you sat; your arm quickly covered your mouth to not disturb anyone in the house. You thought he had been asleep all this time. The loud noise coming out of your mouth, and your sudden movements startled him in return, and in a very cartoonish way ended up making him fall sideways over the armrest of the couch and onto the floor. “Oh, fuck.” He grunted as he hit the floor.

“Oh my god, are you okay”, you ask with a concerned giggle as you lean forward to look at him sitting on the floor.

“I’m fine.”

“I’m so sorry, I really thought you were asleep,” you apologized to him.

“I was for a while, the movie was so boring”, he explained, “but then I woke up.”

“And you didn’t say anything?” You asked him confused.

“I was thinking.”

“About what?”

“Nothing.” He mumbled.

“Oh,” you answered, not really knowing what to say. “It’s late though, I should go to bed. Delia made the guest bedroom ready for me.” You got up, and he stood up from the floor too.

“I’m heading out,” he said awkwardly, his hair turning slowly a dark shade of blue, “I have stuff to do.”

“In the middle of the night”, you asked him.

“Yeah, demon, bio-exorcist, yada, yada, ya know the drill, I have things to do, places to be that is not here. I’ll see you at breakfast.” And with a poof he was gone.

You found the guest bedroom and laid down under the covers, wondering if you had done something wrong. He had seemed so sad, and his hair had shifted color right before he left. “ _Why did you stop_ ,” you remembered him saying, and that’s when you realized he had been craving attention. You wondered how long it was since he had gotten as much as a hug, or just a friendly pat on the shoulder, and you couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanted to say thank you for reading this far! I am quite happy with how this chapter turned out actually, I think it's cute, and I am really looking forward to writing the next chapter:)


	7. Grounding and mood rings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A direct continuation from the last chapter. Y/N can't sleep, she's overthinking, resulting in the beginning of a panic attack, so she calls someone for help.   
> "Warnings" for this chapter in particular: swearing, mentions of harassment, descriptions of panic attack/anxiety

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was a lot of fun to write, please enjoy!
> 
> More notes at the bottom~

So, there you laid, in a new bed, in an unfamiliar room, in the middle of the night, trying to sleep. The house was incredibly quiet. You had tried to sleep for what felt like hours, but your body was still restless. It was just one of those nights where you thought about too many things at once. For a start, you thought about how you couldn’t sleep; you were never able to properly sleep the first time at a new place, whether it was a sleepover, a hotel, or a new home, you just couldn’t. You thought about the dark and how you weren’t properly familiar with all the exits of the house, or where the nearest smoke detector was, and you made yourself a memo in your mind to remember to find out. You stood up and opened the window and a cold gust of wind hit your face and then you went back to sit on the bed. The curtains smoothly moved to the movements of the wind.

You thought about everything that had happened the last few months. You had lost your parents in a car accident, you had moved to this area, met the Deetz family, met ghosts, and you wondered if your parents were ghosts now too but you hadn’t seen them anywhere so they were probably in the Netherworld; as Barbara had told you was the place people usually went when they died. You thought about work, and your part time studies, and the stress and your head just slowly became foggier and more unclear the longer you were thinking. You looked at your phone to try to distract yourself, then remembered the message you had gotten from Hunter a few days ago, and you froze.

Your hands started shaking. He had sent several messages after he had asked you out, calling you an entitled bitch and a whore for not answering him. You just wanted to live your own life in peace the way you wanted it, having fun with the people you knew, and not being called out for trying to ignore the harassment that came out of your co-workers mouth. You wanted to just be able to write your own story, and you didn’t want Hunter to be a part of it, because to you, he wasn’t a nice guy like he claimed himself to be. You couldn’t control your breath, and you were staring out into the air with blurred eyes not knowing what you were looking at, and slowly you could no longer feel the bed you were sitting on.

You knew you needed help to get out of this panicked feeling of being trapped before it became worse, but you also didn’t want to be a bother to anyone. You couldn’t wake up Lydia, you were supposed to be a role model for her and help her out. You couldn’t ask Barbara and Adam for help; they were so socially awkward and whimsical you didn’t know if that would help at all. You couldn’t wake Delia and Charles, because you didn’t know them that well, and you didn’t know if you could trust them, even though Delia worked as a life coach and probably could help you better than anyone in this house, you just couldn’t do it.

You hated when these moments happened. You felt helpless and you hated when you couldn’t control your own body and mind. It was like your head told you to go fuck yourself because you were worthless, and you were bothering everyone, and why couldn’t you just be better. Then you came to think of Beetlejuice, who was the only one who had actually helped you out of an attack caused by your anxiety before. What had he said, that one time, to just call him whenever you needed him? You knew he was out of the house, having said he had things to do, but right now you didn’t care, you needed someone to help you out, because you had no idea how to stop this yourself.

You found your overnight bag and sat down on the floor leaning your back to the bed. You searched through it and found your wallet that you carried with you everywhere, and you found his business card that he had given you a while ago.

You read out loud to yourself. “Betelgeuse - the bio-exorcist, say my name three times.” And you thought to yourself, “wait, is his name actually spelled like the star?” You cleared your throat before saying his name as clearly as you could three times in a row, and then you heard the sound of a poof and saw a cloud of smoke to your right by the door.

“Well, here I am, babes! 10.000 years will give you such a crick in the neck, am I right? So, what are your other two wishes?” Beetlejuice joked and fixed up his collar on his suit and his tie, but his energy quickly changed when he saw your teary eyes and shaken body trying your best to just breathe. You hadn’t realized yourself how bad shape you were in, but he clearly saw. “Oh shit, waiiiiiiit here, I’ll be right back.” With a poof he was gone again.

At the sight of this you just started bawling. You had been thinking so hard about who to contact to just help you breathe and come back to earth but now the feeling of everyone just leaving you and not liking you manifested into your brain and you felt like you were just bothering everyone. “Why am I so stupid”, you said to yourself, and hit your head repeatedly with the palm of your hand.

“No, no, no, don’t do that babes”, a familiar voice said, and he grabbed your wrist to make you stop. You hadn’t realized he had come back again so quickly, and he was now crouching down next to you. He laid a book down on the floor and started flicking through the pages. “Try to breathe slowly. Can you tell me five things you can see?”

“You, the floor, the nightstand, the closet, and the picture on the wall”, you mumbled while looking around, still trying to breathe.

“Name four things you can feel,” he continued.

“My PJs, the carpet, the bed behind me, and the cold breeze from the window,” you said slowly after thinking for a bit.

“Nice, okay, Delia said this is called grounding”, he explained in a voice that reminded you of how a grown-up speaks to a child, and he looked down to read the pages in the book. He had already read this part a couple of times before, but he couldn’t remember everything, and he used a bit of time to make out the words on the page. “Give me three things you can hear.”

“Your voice, and my own,” you told him, and you felt calmer now than you did before. “And the ticking from the clock on the nightstand.”

“Tell me two things you can smell.” He had relaxed a bit himself now when he noticed what he did was working.

“No offence, but you smell dead”, you said giggling a little. This whole situation was so strange to you. You had a demon, helping you through a panic attack, and it was somewhat funny to you. Your head was still spinning with thoughts, but somehow you felt better.

“Thank you very much, it comes with the being dead thing,” he smiled with sarcasm in his voice. “One more thing you can smell, go!” He did finger guns at you, trying to cheer you up.

“My own hair”, you smiled. “It’s my shampoo.”

“Okay, and lastly, one thing you can taste,” he said.

“Food”, you said. “Not like I can taste food right now, but you know, in general”. You chuckled a bit, and he seemed pleased at your answer.

“This is Delia’s, but she said you can borrow it.” He closed the book and handed it to you. “After, ya know, the last time, I asked her for some advice. She deals with this kinda stuff at her job sometimes so..”

“I don’t.. Are you sure, I don’t want to be a pain in the ass.”

“I can show you real pain in the ass,” Beetlejuice blurted out, and quickly realized his mistake. “I’m joking! I mean, I know that feeling, I know what it feels to be invisible and feeling like you’re being a bother to everyone around you.”

“You do?” You asked him.

“Yeah, my mother was the worst. I had to ask her at one point to choose me or the booze, and she said ‘well, I choose the booze’, and then she said ‘I wish you could just leave, like your father’.” He was imitating her old-lady voice as he spoke. “She never liked me, she called me a bother, a disappointment to the whole Netherworld, and a lazy ass motherfucker, and when she told me to get a job I got a job as an office-rat, didn’t like the job as an office-rat so I started doing my own thing. Then I became more of a disappointment to her, I am surprised that was even possible, and she eventually threw me out of the Netherworld, cursed me so no one up here could see me and left me here to rot for a couple thousand years so I got that going for me. So how about you-” he chuckled a bit before continuing. “-what makes you sad today?” He looked at you, seemingly expecting an answer, but you were shocked. Had he just blurted out basically his whole life story to you in like three sentences and a laugh as if to say everything about his depressing story was normal and fine?

You just blink for a few times and your mouth slightly opened in surprise at what he had said. “Beej, are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” He shook his head for a second, and looked a bit confused at your question. “But for real, why are you sad, I know you are sad.”

“I just.. New bed, new place to sleep. I get anxious sometimes when I feel unsure and when I feel like I can’t control a situation,” you explained. “And a lot of things has been happening lately, so I’m a bit stressed out.”

Beetlejuice just nodded a bit in response, and shifted his eyes for a moment, seemingly not knowing where to look and definitely not knowing what to say.

“Do you mind if I vent for a moment,” you ask him.

“Sure,” he nodded. And then you confided in him everything. You told him about your parents passing away, and that they had left the world of the living while you were still on quite difficult terms, and how you missed them, and then your whole world just took a 360 degree turn when you had met Lydia and Beetlejuice and the rest of the family, and then it was your part-time studies you were afraid of failing, and then it was work that you were sure you were failing mostly because of the douchebag at work who keeps making work for everyone there a living hell. You just blurted out everything, and Beetlejuice, he just sat there, listening to everything, and made appropriate reactions to what you were saying.

“Look, I can just drop by the Netherworld and talk to Miss A. and ask her to look for your parents in her registers if you want me to. Oh, and I can just kill this Hunter guy. That’s two problems out of the way for ya”, he smirked.

“No, I don’t want anyone to be killed, I don’t believe killing people is the solution to any problem”, you sigh. “But thank you.” You smiled at him.

“Ya know, I was really hoping for a good old-fashioned and slow torture homicide moment here, Y/N,” he crossed his arms.

“Just please don’t”, you shook your head disappointed. “But maybe you can help me scare him a bit, or something, I just want him to stay away. We can figure something out later?”

“Yeah, okay, we can figure something out”, he approved.

“Thank you for helping me, and being a good friend, Beej,” You smiled, and he looked at you twice as if he was unsure he had heard correctly. “Hey, Can I ask you something," you continued. "It’s a bit out of context here, but what’s up with your hair? I noticed it changes all the time.”

“My hair,” he repeated questioningly. “Oh, it’s a feeling thing.”

“So, what, you’re like a mood ring?” You teased him.

“What’s a mood ring?”

“You don’t know what a mood ring is?” You giggled. It took you a moment, but you found a picture of one on your phone and showed it to him, explaining the basics of what a mood ring was.

He looked at the picture in awe as you explained to him before he looked you in the eyes. “Holy shit, I’m a mood ring.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I loved writing this chapter! I know anxiety can be different from person to person, but I can only draw inspiration from my own experiences, and I love writing bonding scenes. Tell me what you think! Did you find the popculture reference I snuck in? Hugs and kisses from me~


	8. Spooky Scary Skeletons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You have a really bad day, blaming mother nature. You go shopping for groceries and halloween decor with Lydia, and Beetlejuice doesn't have any social skills

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry it took so long guys, but here's another chapter! 
> 
> I'm not sure what I feel about this one, seems like the harder I work on a chapter the more I don't know how I feel about it hahah but my friend who's proofreading my chapters loved it, so I hope you do too :)

A few days had passed since your last anxiety attack. You had asked Beetlejuice that night to not talk about it to anyone, and to your knowledge he had kept his promise, so far. After breakfast that morning you thanked Delia for letting you borrow the book and she had told you that you could come to her for questions or guidance at any time, which you were very much grateful for. Delia had even offered to teach you about crystals and their healing powers if you were interested, or join her for morning yoga some time, and you had thanked her and said you would think about it and let her know when you had the time.

Today was Wednesday, and this particular Wednesday was a pain in the ass. You had had a long and boring day at work, although you had a few alright coworkers who had tried to lift your spirits up a little bit during lunch. The whole day you felt tired, your head was aching, your lower back was aching, and your stomach felt like it was being destroyed by a chainsaw and you honestly would rather be home eating chocolate while watching some comedy on Netflix. All of this because mother nature was a bitch, and if you could, you would slap her in the face. However, you had promised Lydia to meet up with her this afternoon to go shopping after you had finished work and she was done with school for the day. Your fridge was quite empty, and it was your first Halloween in your small house alone, which meant, you could spend money decorating it however you wanted it to. Your favorite neighborhood bat wanted to come along, because she had quite a few opinions on how to properly decorate for Halloween. 

You had picked her up at her house at 5:45. You saw Charles saying goodbye to his daughter at the front door, before she came walking towards your car. 

“Hey,” Lydia said when she sat down in the passenger seat. “Shotgun picks the music, right?”

“Shotgun picks the music,” you confirmed with a smile, as Lydia connected her phone to the audio system in your car. “What are we listening to today?”

“Siouxsie and the Banshees,” she answered as you turned the keys and started driving down the street.

“Really? I’ve never heard of them before,” you joked, and Lydia rolled her eyes at you sarcastically.

It didn’t take long before you clearly heard the rhythmic baseline and the melodic guitar of their song Spellbound, and Lydia surprisingly singing along. You hadn’t expected her to sing, as Lydia was usually a bit more reserved, but you assumed she felt comfortable with you, and you could see she had fun there she sat, immersing herself in the song. Lydia had a great voice, you thought, and you wondered if maybe one day she would be known for her talent. Without thinking, you started hummed along to the melody too. You listened to about four songs before you reached your destination.

***

You walk in between aisles and aisles of decorations and costumes and halloween makeup when you stumble upon a gorgeous ghost bride costume with a veil and a wig; blue with curls.

“That’s a nice costume,” you hear Lydia say next to you.

“Yeah, you think I’ll look good as a corpse bride?” You ask her with an unsure smile. You didn’t know for certain yet if you actually wanted to dress up for a Halloween, but the dress was really pretty, and with your makeup skills you were sure you could make it work.

“Classic, creepy, I like it, think it will suit you”, Lydia responded. “Oh, we should look for some fake flowers and make a bouquet too, with spiderwebs and everything.”

“Okay, I’ll do it,” you agreed and placed it in your shopping cart. “We’ll look for accessories in a minute, let’s find you a costume too first!”

Lydia was already looking through the different costumes they had. After some looking and debating what she should choose, she eventually found a plague doctor outfit she loved. “I can hide candy in the mask,” she pointed out. “Easy access.”

You continue looking through the aisles and you find fake flowers for your bouquet in black, blues, and whites, and you find a gorgeous ribbon to match. Lydia helps you find fake bugs and spiders you could glue to both the bouquet, your wig, and your hair, and she also helps you find fake blood and all these little details of things you need for a complete look. After this she helps you find different décor for your home. There were lanterns and lights, and fake tombstones to place outside, and you saw these life-sized skeletons you could hang up somewhere and you knew you just needed one, and placed a couple in your shopping cart. While you were moving on to do grocery shopping, Lydia prompted an idea to you that was nowhere near the Halloween theme you had been talking about all day so far.

“I mentioned before that I have this photography project at school, right?” She started.

“Yeah, that day we had ice cream, right? What about it,” you answered curiously while looking at a three-pack of candles that looked like crooked spines.

“I was thinking about shooting pictures at a graveyard nearby, but I need someone to model for me, can you help?” She asked.

You looked at her and thought for a moment while holding the candles in your hand, and you felt you started to become nervous.

“I thought you could wear this beautiful black lace dress, and we can do your makeup really cool, and I was thinking about using some red roses as props,” Lydia started babbling in excitement.

“You really have all this planned out, huh, kid,” you mumbled.

“Yeah, do you have time next week?” She smiled as if trying her best to make you agree.

“Sure, I’m in,” you nodded your head in agreement.

***

You arrive home with a feeling of nervousness from head to toe, opening the door with a quick move and stamped your way into the kitchen with the heavy grocery bags. You didn’t know how to model; how did you even agree to this? You placed groceries in the fridge with heavy sighs and frustrated moves of your hands before you slammed the refrigerator door shut, before you went out to the car again for a second round with Halloween décor, and you placed the life-sized skeleton on a dining chair placed in your kitchen.

“I hate everything,” you said out loud to the empty air in your home. You started thinking about the whole scenario. “Why did I just agree to do something I have no idea how to handle?” You thought. “I don’t like being taken pictures of, especially not when it’s in a professional setting. I have no idea what I’m doing.”

You realized you had started overthinking and you leaned your back to the kitchen counter and started massaging your temples. A part of you had just wanted to help, and another part of you was terrified and just wanted to call Lydia and tell her you’re sorry but something happened, and you can’t help her out after all. You needed a second opinion and someone to vent to. Your voice sounded out Beetlejuice’s name, three times, and in an instant, he stood in front of you; the demon who had quickly become your lifesaver when you were in need of a friend.

“Hey, Y/n! I was just about to blow a rail, you want some”, he offered you, holding a small, clear bag with white powder in it in front of him. “Nice kitchen, by the way, is this where you live?” He asked while looking around, clearly distracted by where he was.

“Beej, what are you-“ You grabbed the bag out of his hands and smacked it town on the counter, “-just no, not in my house.” You were surprised at how he could even ask you that question. You didn't know if it was meant as a joke, or if he was serious about it.

He turned quiet at your sudden movements and how you slightly had raised your voice, which wasn’t very like you, and the energy around him drastically changed. The room suddenly felt somewhat eerie, as you noticed the lightbulb in the ceiling started to flicker. “You smell different,” he said slowly, taking a step closer, eyeing you up and down.

“What do you mean”, you asked him, feeling intimidated at how close he stood. The way he moved and the way he talked was so different compared to how you were used to see him. He just seemed so confident, but there was also something about him that made chills go down your spine. He was so close you could feel his breath that reminded you of cigarettes, and you could clearly see the detail on his dirty and damaged suit that he must have owned for decades.

He leaned in to the side of your neck for a short moment, trying to figure out if it was a new perfume, or a new shampoo or whatever it might be that in his eyes made you incredibly tempting to him.

“Oh, I know what it is now,” he said and straightened up, tilting his head to the side. “It’s really difficult to keep my hands to myself,” he continued flirtingly, his hair slowly changing from an electric green to clearly showing several strands of bright pink, and he looked at you like he could devour you at any second.

You stared at him in shock. It had been so long since he had creeped you out, but now he had given you goosebumps. You didn’t know what to think, and definitely not how to react. The way he was behaving right now, showing a side of him that you weren’t used to, lured out a feeling in you that made you both excited, confused, and a little bit scared at the same time. You felt your heart jumping and you held your breath. “Oh no,” you thought, realizing what was happening. _You liked it_. You liked how he looked at you, and you looked at his lips wondering what they would taste like, and if he had touched you, you didn’t know if you would be able to resist. It felt like you were under his spell. These thoughts made your anxiety take control over your body, it felt like a snap at the back of your head, and impulsively you slapped his cheek - hard. His head turned quickly with the motion of the slap and he looked down at the floor with a confused look on his face.

“Okay, yeah, I deserved that.” He said, surprised at how you had reacted to him, taking a few steps back and carefully touched his cheek with his hand before looking at you.

You fought your own instinct to say you were sorry. “Yes, you did,” you said eventually, clenching your fists nervously as you came back to your senses. “I called you over because I needed your help with something, not for some booty call.”

“I saw the look in your eyes before the slap, I can recognize that look anywhere,” he claimed.

“My point still stands, not a booty call,” you said frustrated and hurt.

“Fine, I crossed a line,” he said as he became calmer and more like his more normal self, his hair changed color to a darker green hue. “I’ll behave, what do you need help with?”

“I changed my mind, you can leave,” you mumbled. “I’d like to be alone.”

“Y/n, don’t be mad,” he said quietly. “Can we just talk abou-”

“Just go,” you interrupt him.

He looked at you, speechless. You didn’t know what was going on inside his head, but it seemed like he was going through every emotion at once right before he vanished with a poof. 

You looked over at the skeleton you had placed on a dining chair. “What are you looking at,” you said to the skeleton, pretending like it could answer you. “No, no, don’t give me that tone. He can’t just show up and be all flirty and horny, and strangely handsome, and expect me to just give him what he wants, who does he think I am?” You sighed. “What was he thinking?” You laughed uncomfortably to yourself. “What am I thinking?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, yeah, there you go! Thank you for reading, I am curious to hear what you guys think :)


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